Philip Armstrong, center, with nephew Lucas Armstrong, left, and son Richard Armstrong, right, at Armstrong Manor Farm, Caledon, Ontario, May 24th. Aaron Vincent Elkaim / The Globe and Mail
For Philip Armstrong, the planned Ontario Highway 413 has started a head-to-head battle.
His family’s Armstrong Manor Farm has been operating in Caledon, Ont. highway 410.
The farm would lose about 75 hectares of leased land, which it uses to grow crops both for use as livestock feed and to sell in local markets.
As the trucks passed by nearby Dixie Road, Mr. Armstrong said he is not sure if Highway 413 is the right answer to the region’s transportation problems, especially because it would forever alter the landscape of his home.
“My heart says I don’t want this road. My head says that if development continues, they will need another road, so at least it has to be designated so that it is there for the future,” he said outside the main barn of the farm while more than 330 dairy cows chewed their morning feed. behind him.
Ontario’s agricultural industry is divided by the proposed highway. Some farmers say the route is needed to support the development of the area, while others express concern about the loss of farmland and the impact it will have on the region’s food supply and family businesses. .
The highway, which has become a central theme in the provincial election campaign, would run 59 kilometers, from the Halton region in the west to Vaughan in the east, and would connect with roads 400, 410 and 427.
Prime Minister Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative Party has pledged to build Highway 413 if re-elected, while Ontario Liberals, NDPs and Greens have vowed to cancel the project. Liberal leader Steven Del Duca has said his party would take the estimated $ 10 billion to be spent on the highway and build 200 new schools and repair another 4,500.
The project is currently in the second phase of the province’s environmental assessment process, which includes an analysis of the agricultural impact. The federal government launched its own environmental assessment of the project in May 2021.
Studies by environmental groups have projected that the highway would pave more than 2,000 acres of farmland and 400 acres of Greenbelt, a protected area surrounding Toronto.
Route of the 413 motorway project
study area
THE BALLOON AND THE MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP COLLABORATORS;
413.ca road
Route of the 413 motorway project
study area
THE BALLOON AND THE MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP COLLABORATORS;
413.ca road
Route of the 413 motorway project
study area
THE BALLOON AND THE MAIL, SOURCE: TILEZEN; OPENSTREETMAP COLLABORATORS; 413.ca road
Vehicles using the highway are expected to add more than 17 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere by 2050, according to a study by Environmental Defense, an organization that opposes project.
Developers’ growing interest in land along the highway route has led some farmers to sell their properties and retire or use the profits to buy land further north, where development pressures are not as strong.
But unlike many of his longtime neighbors, Mr. Armstrong said his family had no plans to go anywhere.
“I love living here and I love growing up here,” said Lucas, Mr. Armstrong. “I’m not sure I’d want to do it an hour north.”
Peel Agriculture Federation President Tom Dolson is confident the freeway is the best route.
“It simply came to our notice then. It should get a lot of traffic on the roads, and that’s something that’s causing a lot of pain in Caledon with the added growth we’ve had and the running of farm equipment between farms, “he said.” If we implement it now, it should of being a minimum interruption across the Greenbelt “.
Mayor Janet Horner, of Mulmur County in Dufferin County, north of the proposed highway, warned that the increase in expansion will eliminate the necessary agricultural land in the region.
According to 2021 census data, Ontario lost 4.7 percent of its productive farmland from 2016 to 2021, the equivalent of 319 acres per day. The York, Peel and Halton regions, through which the road would pass, lost most of their farmland in all regions of the province between 2000 and 2017.
Mrs. Horner said being able to rely on local food sources is important for sustainability. He suggested that instead of building a completely new road, the government would buy the existing 407 highway from the private consortium that owns it and eliminate its tolls, which he said would increase the use of the route.
He noted that residential development is difficult to reverse. “The house is the last crop, and once you’ve put a house or a parking lot on that land, you never get it back,” he said. “It simply came to our notice then. Not all open fields can provide the same supply “.
Lucas Armstrong prepares the feed on the farm. Aaron Vincent Elkaim / The Globe and Mail
Peel Regional Councilor Johanna Downey, representing Caledon, was less cautious. He said Highway 413 would give the region a chance to turn its economy around. Instead of large farms, Ms. Downey imagines small businesses such as boutique farms, ciders and wineries, which she said would attract tourists to the area.
Ms Downey, who is currently the campaign manager for Sylvia Jones, the current MPP for the progressive Conservative Dufferin-Caledon, said growth in the Peel region requires a new road. He said it will be the responsibility of the regional municipality to promote change in the agricultural industry by providing more opportunities for young entrepreneurs to sell agricultural products in the city.
“I think that’s what you’ll see most in Caledon as we evolve more towards a destination, as opposed to a more commercialized farming community,” Ms. Downey said. “These products aren’t in a truck for three days. It’s right there, it’s in the city. For me, this is a victory in the food value chain.”
Further east along the proposed freeway route, the fate of Mill Valley Farm in the York region is already in the hands of developers. Dean Orr’s parents rented the main farmland 32 years ago and eventually expanded it to 2,000 acres rented, where Mr. Orr cultivates corn and wheat, as well as organic products. Most of the farm land is now leased to Mr. Orr by real estate speculators.
If the highway were to go ahead, it would remove about 500 acres from the property. Mr. Orr said the family plans to stay with their other lands for as long as possible.
On Highway 413, Mr. Orr said, “I will literally refuse to use it.”
“The way we’ve approached development in the region is the same way they approach the highway, and that’s building wide and fast.”
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